Thunderclap
by susiichan
Summary: Alphonse isn't the one afraid of the thunderstorm. Mild Elricest.


**Title**: Thunderclap

**Summ**: "Hey, Al," he said, slight worry laced in his voice, "you're not still scared of thunderstorms, are you?" Mild Elricest.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.

**Word Count**: 1491.

**A/N**: This was a mad attempt to fufill the following prompt, which was supposed to be a short drabble but turned into something much longer and fuller. I completely fail at writing Elricest. This doesn't fit into the anime's chronological storyline, I wrote that knowing this and picturing the events of the anime to be over, but both boys human and well, still travelling around and doing what they do best.

**Prompt**:_I will write a fanfic or drabble with the pairing_

_**Ed/Al**_

_rated_

_**G**_

_and include the following things:_

_**dance, thunderstorm, table**_

From The Totally Promiscuous FMA Pairing Machine. Link on my profile.

* * *

There was a fierce crack and the smoky little inn was plunged into darkness. Power cut. Alphonse Elric blinked, and turned to the spot beside him where he knew his brother to be sitting, waiting for his eyes to adjust. He felt a warm hand rest on top of his own reassuringly as his surroundings burst into uproar. Angry, drunk voices spouted unfounded accusations and words were spoken with little coherency mixed with even less sense. 

"What's going on?"

"A set up! That blasted landlord's been out of pocket for weeks, just looking to distract us while he takes our hard earned cash."

"I paid good money for this - you're telling me it's over?"

Complaints were loud and disjointed and Al ignored them. There was the sound of a scuffle, and a higher pitched, girlish voice, squealing:

"Aargh, get away from me! I'm not some sleazy street performer!"

Al felt Ed's hand squeeze his reassuringly before letting go. Al was suddenly aware that it was very cold inside the inn. He didn't doubt his brother, and a second later there was light - a small, controlled fire burning steadily in the palm of Ed's hand. Thirty or so red faces blinked confusedly, and stopped hitting and groping each other.

"You," said Ed sternly, pulling a big man away from the source of the girlish voice - the dancer, "stay away from her, go home and sober up, she's made it perfectly clear that she's not interested."

The man looked at Ed ferociously, but then his eyes seemed to catch something golden dangling from inside Ed's coat and he thought better of it. Grunting unappreciatively, he slammed a dirty tankard onto a table and staggered to the door, forgetting to close it on his way out so that a gust of rather chilly wind blew indoors, freezing the inn's occupants.

Around them, people followed suit. They finished their drinks or else left their half filled glasses, then looked anxiously at one another before making a speedy exit. Al liked, admired the way his brother could have such an influence on everyone surrounding him. Ed turned away and spoke quietly to the tavern owner, who was shaking slightly. He was a weedy but generous man who had allowed to boys a nights rest in his inn in return for hearing stories of their adventures, to which Ed had been more than happy to comply. The night's entertainment, a girl only slightly older than Ed from a neighbouring village who was possibly one of the best dancers that Al had ever seen, followed his brother awkwardly, as though wanting to say something and not knowing how.

Al chaperoned the last few drunks out of the inn and wished them a safe trip home, but he didn't think any of them really understood speech anymore for they were making gargling noises at him. He sighed as he watched through a crack in the door to make sure the villagers were getting home alright - he didn't like the idea that some of them were very drunk and out in this weather - and then heard a mewing noise to his right foot. He picked up the inn's kitten and stroked her fur soothingly, before walking over to his brother, helping now to light the oil lamps and candles around the inn, the fire in his hand extinguished.

"...that was alchemy?" came a small voice from behind Al, and he turned to see the girl. Her eye makeup was a little smudged and the sequins on her green dress were looking slightly worse for wear, but she held a truly captivated expression on her face, her eyes following Ed.

"Sure," replied Al, "you've never seen alchemy before?"

The girl bit her lip and shook her head, her cheeks turning rosy.

"No," she admitted, "we don't talk about it much where I'm from. It's incredible."

Al smiled at her, and she smiled back hesitantly.

"Well, I'm not exactly that damned Colonel, but I'm not too shabby with fire either - sorry we didn't see the rest of your dance, Leah," said Edward, returning from being thanked repeatedly by the innkeeper's wife, who had rushed off to get them something to eat.

Leah looked at the ground. "Thanks," she uttered, "for helping me. He - that man - was really strong, I thought-" and she made a small noise that sounded like a heavily disguised sob.

"Hey, it's all right," said Ed, patting her on the back, "no problem. Looking out for others is one of the few things in my job description that I don't heartily disagree with. Why don't we get you something to eat and then you can go to bed?"

Together, they calmed Leah and settled down with the other people staying in the inn overnight, enjoying a meal of stewed beef with dumplings and potatoes. Al noted that the food wasn't as good as the food their mother had cooked, and looked for Ed to silently exchange an agreement, but he was letting Leah cling to him - looking, if Alphonse could read his brother as well as he thought he could, as though he were extremely uncomfortable.

Al fought the desire to giggle slightly, and after a very long, would-have-been-sad-if-it-hadn't-been-so-overdone, monologue from Leah depicting what seemed to be her own, her country's and the whole world's struggles and fears the two brothers excused themselves and went up to bed. Leah made a motion that suggested she wanted to come up with them, so Edward politely offered to show her to her room, which thankfully was on the first floor, a whole floor below the Elric brothers. The girl burst into tears of gratitude and it took ten whole minutes to calm her down and separate her from Ed, who she had pulled into a very strong hug (he, being shorter than her, was finding it extremely difficult to breathe when forced into her chest).

"I thought she'd never stop crying," said Ed, when they were within the safety of the small, dark room they'd been given, "I think she's nearly as mad and emotional as Winry."

"Not nearly so good with the wrench, though," said Alphonse.

"Mmm, yeah," replied Ed non-commitantly, "girls, eh? They're all mad."

"Aren't you glad you've got me then, brother?" chirped Al cheekily, grinning as Edward reached over from his bed to pound his little brother on the head. Al ducked and Ed lost his balance, automail arm falling to the floor and dragging the rest of his body with it.

"You tried to hit me with your AUTOMAIL arm?" said Al indignantly, through laughter.

Ed groaned, rubbing his sore right knee that had fallen onto the hard wooden floor, "well, I got what I deserved."

There was another crack of lightning and Edward straightened up, kicked the sheets away from him and walked towards the window to draw the curtains. Al had stopped laughing.

Al couldn't see his brother's face, but pictured his brother giving him a worried expression right about now. He felt something sit on his bed beside him, the warmth of his brother was radiating towards him already. Edward's breath beside him was the only warmth he had on an otherwise frightfully cold evening.

"Hey, Al," he said, slight worry laced in his voice, "you're not still scared of thunderstorms, are you?"

Al wondered whether he should tell the truth, whether he could stand to let his brother worry about him when there were so many other more important problems on his mind. He paused, bit his lip and made a decision.

"No, brother."

The truth.

He wasn't sure that Edward believed him, but felt better that it was dark and he didn't have to prove anything through facial expressions. He wasn't sure whether he was surprised or not when he felt two small yet muscular arms wrap around him and pull him into his brother. He let himself be held as the rain continued to patter on the rooftop, as the light from behind the curtains continued to flash, bringing with it the powerful crack of thunder. He stayed close by through until the early hours of the morning when the storm had settled and they fell asleep on the same bed, side by side. Together, the way they'd always been and always would be.

In the morning Al woke first. The morning light had crept in through the slight gap in the curtains and fell upon his brother's older, defined face. The night before had been comforting for him, even if it was not a personal fear. It felt odd whenever it was Al soothing Ed or the latter worried about something trivial, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

When Ed awoke in a few hours time, Al would tease him.

He wasn't the one afraid of the thunderstorm, after all.


End file.
